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Musings. Family. Food. Stories. Cooking. Recipes. Eating. A recipe journal. From simple Filipino dishes to challenging recipes and exciting gastronomical failures. This is for my girls to look back on for comfort, memories, laughs, love and lots of food!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Lemon scented rolls with cream cheese frosting

“So get out, get out, get out of my head. And fall into my arms instead. I don’t, I don’t, don’t know what it is. But I need that one thing.” – One Thing, One Direction 2011

The frenzy that wreaked havoc and high decibel squeals in the city this week, at the Hordern Pavilion and at the Logies aka One Direction has infected our home. Four girls all humming the same song over and over again, watching the same videos over and over again. It’s the One Direction infection! So my teenager says. Hubby is a saint for putting up with all these, listening to the squeals and excitement.

Yep. One can get drawn to boy bands in their time. As we had afternoon tea over these lovely rolls on Sunday, the grown ups were also reminiscing about the boy bands in our day but can’t seem to pinpoint anything that fell into the category of “boy band”. Growing up watching MTV singing, dancing and sometimes swooning over members of Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Flock of Seagulls, The Cars, Earth Wind and Fire, Dire Straits, Chicago, U2 and the list goes on. All seem to be composed of mature “men” not “boys”. The late 80s to 90s was the era when the “boy” bands emerged: Boy Zone, Boys to Men, Backstreet Boys, InSync, etc. All good fun remembering that yeah, once upon a time, admittedly, we were also drawn to the pop sensations and culture. So I say to my girls – I love One Direction too! Lol!

We’ve made other lemon sweet treats before like this super moist Lemon Yoghurt Cake and the best ever Lemon and Passionfruit Cheesecake but never this. A sweet yeasted bread/roll with the aroma of sweet lemony goodness. Although I’m not a fan of lemony things, admittedly, this is one of those that just breaks through. A warm welcome surprise! Makes you fuzzy all over while you’re singing to your fave pop tune!

a whole lotta lemon love goin' on

To make the rolls:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup warm water (45 degrees C)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

60g unsalted butter, room temperature

2 eggs,slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup caster sugar

5 cups bread flour

3 teaspoons instant dry active yeast

1. Heat the water in the microwave for one minute.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine all ingredients in order listed above.

3. Mix together until the mixture forms a soft dough and moist (but not too wet. If too wet, add a tablespoon of flour until you get the desired texture and feel).

4. Lightly oil / spray your work surface and prepare about a cup of flour in a bowl for working the dough.

5. Turn the dough onto the surface and knead until elastic, approximately 10 minutes.

6. Return the dough into the bowl, cover with cling wrap and a tea towel and prove/rest until double in size, 1-2 hours (or more depending on weather conditions).

7. Butter or lightly oil a 9 x 13 x 2in baking pan. Set aside.

8. Prepare the sweet lemon paste filling.

9. After the dough has risen, turn it onto your work bench and using a rolling pin, stretch to about a 15x24 inch rectangle.

10. Using a silicon brush or rubber spatula, spread the lemon paste filling onto the dough until its all covered.

11. Roll the dough from the top going towards you, gently.

12. Pinch the seams to seal the dough edges.

13. Using a dough cutter or a sharp knife, cut the rolls into half first. then cut into equal rolls about 4 cm (or 1 and 1/2 inch).

14. Place the rolls cut side up in a prepared pan (12 rolls fit into the 9 x 13 pan, but I had to prepare a smaller one which was a test batch into a smaller pan 5 small pieces).

18. Once the rolls have proved/risen, bake in the preheated oven for 25-30minutes until golden. (to test if done inside, poke a probe thermometer and if the temperature registers 95 degrees C, it is done. Cover the top with aluminum foil if the rolls are baking/browning too much)

19. Place the pan onto a cooling rack. After 5 minutes, take the rolls out of the pan by placing baking paper on top then turning them onto the cooling rack.

Roll the dough into a rectangle, spread the lemon-sugar paste filling, roll into a log and pinch the seals. Cut into 1 and 1/2 inch thick rolls, place in pan and let rise.

To make the sweet lemon paste filling:

1 cup caster sugar

4 tablespoons finely grate lemon rind (4-5 lemons)

1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind

85g unsalted melted butter

In a medium sized bowl, combine all ingredients for the paste and set aside. (Flo Braker's recipe for the pull apart bread was to combine all except butter. The butter used to spread on the dough, then the lemon sugar sprinkled on top. I thought combining everything in a bowl, then spreading on the dough would work just the same).

Fresh out of the oven. Golden rolls.

To make the lemony cream cheese frosting:

168g cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

In a bowl using a whisk or a hand held mixer, whip the ingredients together until smooth. Set aside.

Lemony and sweet cream cheese goodness

A few notes on the baking:* Some of the ingredient quantities I've doubled to suit the filling and the frosting. There was enough left over frosting to ice another batch of rolls :D* I've baked the test batch on the night the dough was rolled and cut (the smaller pan the photo).* The 9 x 13 pan with the 12 rolls I've refrigerated after proving. The next day, I let the the dough rest for more than an hour to let them come to room temperature before baking them in a preheated oven.

Fresh out of the oven! Can you smell them? They smell so sweet and delicious! And the bread super soft.

Best served fresh from the oven, slathered with the cream cheese frosting with a nice cup of tea or coffee. Or reheated for a few seconds in the microwave the next day. But I’m sure that’s hardly ever going to happen.

Spread with some lemony cream cheese frosting. Love!

So tell me honestly, did you also have pop group/boy band infection in your day? And have you heard of/remember the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo? Remember little Ricky Martin? Ok, I’ll stop right there.

But while you're thinking about your fave pop group/boy band, why don't you hop on down and browse at all the other delicious lemony goodness below.

These look lovely and so simple! I'm keen to give them a go sometime, all these amazing desserts are wreaking havoc on my waistline. :)

I was a bit New Kids on the Block fan back in the day, it was one of the first concerts I ever went to. I watched One Direction's performance at the logies the other night and had a little moment of reminiscing over my own tween crush, those were the days, hey? :)

a lemon twist on cinnamon rolls - inspired!! What a great idea, and they look gorgeous :) I have to say, growing up smack in the middle of the boy band craze I was never a big NKOTB (etc etc) fan - the screaming girls always made me giggle just a bit!

What beautiful photos you have taken, makes me want to whip up a batch right now. However since early morning feeding of baby is finished, bed is calling me instead. Maybe tomorrow or later this week for sure. They look so yummy :)